this is the last time i'm gonna put you back together
by Ofwoodsandwaves
Summary: Klayley College AU / Klaus Mikaelson, art major, is assigned to work with Hayley Marshall, photography major. / multi chapter fic
1. Chapter 1

"For your next project, which will count for one third of your grade, please don't interrupt me Mr. Valera, you will be assigned a partner from the photography department. You will work separately but the goal will be to imitate their photography style using painting instead of photography. In exchange they will do the same, imitate your painting style with their cameras. On the desk you will find a summary of the assignment and who you've been assigned to work with. Please keep in mind that we want to get a feeling of their identity in your works, inspire yourself from their art and, I'm afraid it needs to be said, do not alienate them. The grade will be given by a committee of art and photography teachers."

The teacher's announcement at the end of the class was surprising enough that Niklaus raised his head and paid some attention to her words. Luckily, he had been cleaning up his brushes and not in his zone. It surprised him that the teachers would ask them to work with a photography student, the two departments usually disliked working with each other, as a matter of fact, his curriculum had never included any photography classes and no teachers had found fault in him for that. His dislike of the medium, any amateur with some luck could capture a decent picture and call it art, was shared by most of his art teachers, except this one. Perhaps their departments were burying the hatchet in order to get more funds, he assumed, as he made his way to the desk to know who his quote unquote partner would be.

Niklaus Mikaelson | Hayley Marshall

That name did not ring any bells but thankfully, his partner's number and email address had been included on the assignment sheet. One tap on his phone and he was texting this Hayley woman, he thought it best to approach her first and make her understand that his time wasn't to be wasted. His phone rung as he was typing his message, the alert he had set up a week ago showing over the text, "3pm studio free room for R's art friend". He side swiped it, and finished his text, considering whether or not he wanted to scare off Rebekah's friend in front of his project partner. He finished composing his text and sent it.

 _Klaus M, your partner for the art/photography project. Please meet me at my studio today around 3:30pm, and bring your portfolio._

After sending it he realized that he hadn't given the girl his studio's address, and started writing a new text when he received her answer; at least the girl was prompt to answer, he thought.

 _K, I'll be there at 3pm with my stuff. 3rd floor, right?_

He was surprised that the girl knew his studio's address, he stuffed his bag in the trunk of his car and asked to be sure.

 _Yes. You know the address?_

 _Duh._

After staring at his phone with wide eyes, he decided that this day was too strange to question and hoped that the girl wouldn't end up being a former one night stand with a grudge.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I don't know anything about photography so correct me if I write things that don't make sense. I hardly ever write multichapter fics for a reason, so I can't tell you when I'll update next because I have no idea when that will be. However, what I can tell you is that reviews such as "update soon" usually work the opposite on me, sorry but I'd rather be honest.**

Klaus was answering Henrik's text when the studio's door resonated. He looked at the time, 3:01. He wondered who it was, the studio renter or the photography girl; he hadn't noted the name of Rebekah's friend when she had texted him to tell him that she wanted him to give the unused room to a friend of hers. And since Rebekah was the one who actually owned the studio and the apartment above it, Klaus couldn't really refuse her, especially since the room was only used to store blank canvas and paint. Michael had refused to give Klaus the money to pay for a place around campus, unlike what he'd done for Elijah, Rebekah and Finn; his dearest sister had used her own money to buy him the studio & apartment combo while she chose to share an apartment with a friend of hers.

He finished telling Henrik that he wasn't free for his school event that weekend, but maybe he'd be free for the next one, and answered the door, revealing a brown haired woman surrounded by many, many, things.

"You're Rebekah's friend, I suppose?" He asked her as he reached for a large bag at her feet. She shouldered him away from the doorway, half the bags in her hands and placed them all in the middle of the open spaced studio, under the large windows that run along the entire wall.

"After all these years and you still don't know my name, I told Rebekah, I told her but she was all, don't worry Nik's not that thickheaded he is bound to remember you by now. Ha! She owes me a hundred. I bet you don't even know my name, do you Niklaus?" The girl went back to the rest of her stuff until there was only a leather bag placed slightly away from the door, she took it into her hands and opened it carefully to check the camera's lenses.

"Wait, don't tell me you're the photography girl? That's how you knew where I lived!"

She finally stopped moving around so he could look at her, and her face did look somehow familiar, although he couldn't place her at all, a problem which he was quite familiar with. At least, Klaus was ninety percent sure he hadn't slept with her before.

She huffed loudly and glared at him, her hands placed on her hips, her leather jacket revealing a white tank top which was slightly see through and showed the shape of a black bra. She wore a simple pair of blue jeans that sat very well on her, and flat boots. She was definitely not his sister's usual girl friend type. What was her name again? Holly? Hannah? Hayley!

"Hayley, I'm sorry if I offended you, even though I'm not sure why you blame me for not learning all the names of my sister's friends', God knows she goes through them like jackets. Please, let's start over. I'm Klaus Mikaelson." He slightly stressed his first name, as he did not allow anyone other than his family to call him Niklaus; he always introduced himself as Klaus for a reason.

She stared at him some more, but sighing and holding her hand out, "Hayley Marshall, photography major and Rebekah's best friend." He shook her hand, her grip was firm but her hand was soft, making him feel suddenly very insecure as his hands were rough from playing around with some clay.

"Show me where the room is so I can start setting it up, I'll use it to develop pictures so you're not allowed to go in unless I tell you to, it would ruin the pictures." She grabbed a large book from one of the bags, "here's my portfolio, you can look at it while I set things up."

He pointed her towards her room, at the opposite of the door, next to the small wash room he used to clean paint off himself.

He went back to his beloved wooden desk; it was an old thing, made of mahogany and scratched from years of use. He'd set it up in the right corner, where the string of window started so he had some good lightning; the most lit spot of the studio was reserved for his easel.

Hayley's pictures were, if he allowed himself to be honest, breathtakingly real. She combined pictures together, blending them until they formed only one. He blocked out the noises she made installing her stuff, as he poured through the pages, staring at all the pictures details. Some were simple, a black and white picture of a man carrying an umbrella but the top of the umbrella turned into a snow covered mountain top, his favorite was a picture of the city, a metal bench in front of a coffee shop that turned into a moss covered bench and the background turned into a jungle. The pictures weren't perfect and if one paid attention to the details the cut between the pictures was easy to see, but on the first take those pictures left him with a deep feeling of longing.

The pictures he disliked were pictures taken in double exposure, Klaus knew of the method but he had never liked the results of that technique, it was too lazy, all you had to do was take one picture and then take another over it. He let out a sound of disgust and jumped when he felt a strand of hair brush his cheek.

"I see you're not a fan of my photography. I guess this project is really meant for failure, huh?" She talked in his ear, her hair tickling his neck. He looked up at her, the curl of her hair, the light hitting her green eyes and showing off the gold around the edges of her pupil, her lips so red, she probably had the habit of biting them. His fingers hitched for his notepad.

He pushed off his chair and coughed weakly.

"I don't dislike all you photography, Hayley. The first pictures show a certain talent, but double exposure is such a weak technique, it is so… lazy, just snap two pictures over each other and here you go. You can't really compare that to the work of painters or other artists. I can't really think of photography as an art, it is a hobby, nothing more."

"A hobby? Do you know how many hours I waited for this wolf to take a pose I could use?" She pointed to the page he'd been staring at. "You don't even care to know because to you, anything that isn't handcrafted isn't art, you're one of those purists, aren't you? Well guess what, at least photography shows the truth and nothing but the truth. Your art is all lies, you don't paint the world as it is but as you wish it would be."

She stalked off to the door and turned back towards him at the last second. "I've set up my darkroom, DO NOT go in. I have better things to do than argue with you, so just look at the portfolio and I'll look at your paintings when I have the time. I think it's just best if we don't deal with each other and do the project separately."

"That's fine with me, Little Wolf." He waited until the door slammed and rushed to his sketchpad. He was unsure as to what he wanted to sketch first, her tilted face as she leaned over him, or the anger in her eyes as she stared him down? Perhaps he would just start with her lips and see where that would take him.


	3. Author Note

Hey everyone, so first of all, sorry but this isn't a new chapter. I've logged back in on my account to post a short fic I wrote and realized that I had received many reviews for this fic, and left you all waiting, I'm sorry for that.

I am trying to get back to writing fanfics, so I was wondering if anyone still cared about this fic, if you're still here somehow after more than a year, please let me know. I am considering editing the first chapters of this fic and updating it, although perhaps it won't be very long I want to try and finish this story, give Klaus and Hayley a happy ending in this verse at least.

Please, let me a review if you would read this story, I feel sometimes like Klayley fic readers are a rare breed and honestly, I'm the kind of writer who needs constant support to thrive (not unlike Klaus I suppose).

And thank you, for those of you who chose to review this fic, truly thank you, coming back to ffnet and reading those kind words means a lot to me.

 **EDIT:** WOW, I didn't expect such a response, thank you everyone who reviewed, it means a lot to know you guys still care. I'm going to revise the story from the start, I will edit chapter 1 and 2 and come back as soon as possible with the rest of the story!

Meanwhile **please check out my latest klayley fic and leave a review if you've enjoyed it,** I'm not used to writing smut but if you guys like it, I'll include some here as well.

Also if you want to contact me i'm on tumblr **ofwoodsandwaves** (the link's in my profile) i accept short prompts over there and i'm pretty chatty as well.

— Linn


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